


I'll Be Home for Christmas

by beyourlionheart



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Christmas Eve, Christmas short, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Modern AU, Neighbours, Snowed In, Star Wars Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28280667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyourlionheart/pseuds/beyourlionheart
Summary: When her flight home to see her dad is cancelled, Rey Skywalker finds herself face-to-face with the one neighbour she doesn't want to see: Poe Dameron.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	I'll Be Home for Christmas

“Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me!” Rey Skywalker hisses, dropping her arm to her side. She’s standing in the hallway of her apartment building, holding the handle of her roller-luggage while her jacket slumps down her shoulders. This cannot be happening.

In the back of her mind, she realizes that she’s being a little loud, standing in that hallway, freaking out over a cancelled flight, but it’s Christmas Eve, and she’s _upset_. All year, she’d been promising that she would fly home to see her dad, especially since her mom had passed the year before, and now all her plans have gone belly-up.

All because of a freak snowstorm.

For a moment, she considers slumping down in the hallway and making a little camp right there. After all, what else can go wrong that night? She definitely doesn’t want to go into her apartment and find out.

Just as she’s about to sit, though, the door across the hall opens. 12B. Yeah, _that_ 12B.

Poe Dameron opens the door slowly, using his foot to nudge his dog back inside. It’s been a few weeks since Rey had last seen him. Since the last time they’d run into each other at the mailbox.

It had become a bit of a thing with them. They’d go down to get their mail at the same time each day, presumably because of compatible work schedules, and each time, they’d make eye contact and chat for a little while. It had _seemed_ like they were getting along great, and Rey even found herself developing a crush, but then one day, it’d just stopped. She’d waited at the mailbox for what felt like an hour before she finally headed back upstairs without her daily conversation. She’d heard from a neighbour a little while later that he’d started to pick up his mail in the mornings before leaving for work.

And now, Poe Dameron is standing in front of her in all his henley-and-jeans glory, taking in her sorry scene.

She feels stupid all of a sudden, standing in the hallway, freaking out like a toddler. He doesn’t look upset or judgemental, though. No, the man who’d decided that he suddenly wasn’t interested in her is looking at her with a look of pure sympathy. Not pity, either— just understanding.

“Did you get hit by the flight cancellations, too?” he asks serenely, opening his door a little wider now that his dog has decided to sit politely. It’s a very cute dog, too, which almost makes Rey more upset. How can a man be this sweet and understanding, own a dog so cute, and still hold the record for the person to break her heart with the least amount of contact ever.

“It’s fine. It’s no big deal,” Rey says quickly, wiping her cheeks of the tears that she didn’t know had been falling. She doesn’t want to be caught like this in the hallway, but there she is.

Poe frowns a little and shakes his head. “Nah, come on. This time of year is tough. Believe me, I’m feeling it, too,” he admits.

Rey can recall all the little details about his life that he’d given her during their mailbox conversations. He's an ex-pilot-turned-lawyer, just trying to do his best in a world where it seems like oppression is the norm. He’d been a momma’s boy before she passed, and now with his dad living in Guatemala, he feels separated from his family. It’s amazing how much you can glean from a series of ten-minute conversations.

“Were you going to visit your dad?” she asks, biting her lip just a little as she considers her next move. She doesn’t exactly want to let him in again, after he’d pulled away so suddenly, but these seem like extenuating circumstances. Christmas Eve and a sudden bout of loneliness.

Poe shakes his head. “Nah, he was supposed to come here, but his flight was cancelled. So, it looks like it’s just gonna be me and Beebee this year.”

“Beebee?” Rey furrows her brow a little. He hadn’t ever mentioned a partner, or a kid, or—

“Oh, right, sorry. Bumblebee. Beebee,” Poe supplies, gesturing to the dog that’s now lying down atop his feet. It’s all unfairly cute.

“Oh,” Rey replies daftly, staring down at the dog, who blinks up at her and then smiles.

Poe taps his hand on the door for a moment, clearly struggling to find something to say, before he finally decides upon something. “Do you want to come in for a bit? I can make some hot chocolate, or…” he trails off. “Or, wait, would your boyfriend be okay with that?”

Rey blinks at him. “My… boyfriend?”

“Tall guy? Broody? Gives off a ‘don’t touch me or I’ll scream vibe’?” Poe cringes as soon as the words leave his mouth. “Sorry, that was probably too far.”

Rey freezes. “Wait… _Ben_? Ben’s not my boyfriend. He’s my— my _sparring partner_. He dropped me off a few weeks ago when my car was at the shop.”

Poe stands very still, and his mouth hangs open for a moment. “He’s… not your boyfriend?”

“No. I don’t have a boyfriend, actually. Or a girlfriend. Or a partner.”

“Oh.” Poe gulps. He looks like she’d just slapped him. “Well, um, I feel kind of stupid now.”

“Is _that_ why you’d been avoiding me? You thought I had a boyfriend?” Rey stares at him incredulously. Maybe she wasn’t making everything up after all.

Poe clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, refusing to meet her eyes for a moment. “Maybe,” he coughs, looking slightly pained. “I— well, okay, if I’m being honest, I kind of had— have— a huge crush on you, and when I saw you with that guy, it looked like you might be a _thing_ , and I didn’t want things to get weird. If you, you know, figured out that your neighbour had a weird crush on you while you were committed.”

Rey can feel herself preening. “You have a crush on me?”

Poe’s face is bright red by that point, and he looks like a cornered animal. “I, well, yeah? I mean, you’re stunning, and you’re smart, and I had a great time when we were talking regularly.”

“Me too,” Rey smiles. “And, if we’re being honest, I have a crush on you, too.”

“Really?” Poe grins.

“Yup. You did almost ruin it by ghosting me, though.”

“Right.” Poe shuffles his feet out from under Beebee, gesturing with a snap for the dog to walk back into the apartment. The dog obliges with a huff. “Well, let me make up for it with some hot chocolate? And then maybe… we can see what happens from there?”

Rey smiles, stepping into the apartment once the path is cleared for her. “I’d like that.”


End file.
